The Significance of Jane Eyre's Relationship With Helen Burns

Jane Eyre is a young orphan child, smart and independent in nature and sadly mistreated in her new home. She is outwardly emotional towards her caretaker Mrs. Reed. Her disagreement with her unfair treatment is seen as very disrespectful even though it might be quite just.

In the first few opening chapters Jane Eyre is seen as a mentally and physically abused child, during her years at Gateshead Hall. John Reed displays violence towards Jane in the first chapter. He punishes and bullies Jane; it is not known why the Reed family resent her so much. Her situation is seen as desperate within the first few paragraphs. Her cousins and Aunt make her life impossible and unbearable, she is not seen as a member of the family. Jane is simply seen as ‘’less than a servant’’ as she does ‘’nothing for her keep’’.

I just felt like I wanted to continue to read the whole novel because I had so many question that were unanswered. Jane Eyre had more action in the first chapter than Wuthering Heights and Emma. The story begins as Jane sits in the drawing room of the wealthy Reed home. It is a dreary, chilly winter afternoon which sets the tone of the story. Jane Eyre’s setting was written in the nineteenth-century era same as the novel Emma. The Reeds are Jane’s aunt and cousins who are unkind to her. “Accustomed to John Reed’s abuse, I never had an idea of replying to it; my care was how to endure the blow which would certainly follow the insult” (pg. 375). The quote above gives a brief view of how she is treated in the Reed house. She is abused by her cousin John who says ugly things to her, hits her, throws things at her and then gets her in trouble for it. The story of Jane so far reminds me of the story of Cinderella such as being an outcast and being mistreated. With the way that Jane speaks and thinks throughout the chapter it shows she is well

Jane was afraid that she would never find a sense of home or a sense of community. Jane is a plain and regular girl, and she grows up to be plain and regular, but also passionate. While jane is very fiery and passionate, her friend helen burns is quite the opposite. Helen has a very icy personality and because of that, she doesn't talk back to jane. As jane grows older and matures, she becomes a

When she is shipped off to Lowood for a better education, she meets Helen Burns, a girl who is unlike anyone else she has met at Lowood. Helen teaches Jane that even with your worst enemy despising you, you must show them love and kindness, and you must not succumb to the desire to treat them the how they treat you, because that would only lower you to their level. Although Helen is only in Jane’s life for a short time, she transforms Jane’s heart from childish to kind.

In the beginning chapters, Charlotte Bronte is quick to establish who Jane Eyre is as a character. Jane Eyre is a ten-year-old girl, who has no living relatives and is considered to be an orphan. She lives with her “aunt”, Mrs. Reed, who is very wealthy and mistreats her. Because Jane is also poor, she is unable to

When Jane is sent away from Gateshead, she leaves with a cold shoulder indicated toward her cruel cousins and especially her Aunt Reed. If she was not being brutalized by John Reed, she was picked on for her looks by Eliza

“Yes, Mrs. Reed, to you I owe some fearful pangs of mental suffering. But I ought to forgive you, for you knew not what you did.” (Bronte 19). Jane Eyre, the main character of Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, defines a line between her emotions and self-control. In this statement of compassion, Jane absolves all of her anger at Mrs. Reed. Throughout her childhood, Mrs. Reed treated Jane unjustly, similar to her life at Lowood. These childhood acts of unfairness shapes Jane’s character, far more than a normal child. In Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, Jane maintains a delicate balance between passion and discipline throughout her life. Jane always asserts herself and never agrees with anything unjust.

As a young child, Jane is overly passionate and defiant. She is fully convinced of the rightness of her rebellion against those who wrongfully hurt her. Jane’s uncle, Mr. Reed took her into his home after both of her parents died. Before he died, he made Mrs. Reed promise that she would treat Jane as one of her own. Although she said she would, she broke her promise because of her resentfulness of her husband's favoritism towards Jane. Now Mrs. Reed takes every opportunity to neglect and punish her. She always refuses permission to let Jane play with her cousins Eliza, John, and Georgiana. Jane secludes herself behind curtains of a window seat

When Jane is young she wants nothing more than to belong, but her own self keeps her from being accepted. While Jane is at Gateshead her family, the Reeds, ostracized her because of because she does not conform to what Mrs. Reed wants. Jane says to Mrs. Reed, “I am glad you are no relation of mine. I will never call you aunt again as long as I live. I will never come to visit you when I am grown up; and if anyone asks me how I liked you, and how you treated me, I will say the very thought of you makes me sick” (Bronte 28). This causes Mrs. Reed to reject Jane forever and always despise her. Jane is different from the Reeds because she is an orphan and without them she would be poor, so that is why they do not accept her. Likewise, when Jane

The pivotal moment that affected Jane Eyre’s outlook on life was due to her harsh upbringing by her aunt and her cousins. It is first introduced to the reader that Jane was adopted by her kind Uncle Reed, and his family, while Jane was sent to the red room as punishment and she was pondering about the past in order to pass time. The red room was a chamber, with décor that was almost all red, which could be locked from outside. The reason Jane was sent to the red room was because she had lashed out at her snobby and obnoxious cousin John Reed that on a regular basis would torment Jane. After years of pent up anger and frustration Jane couldn’t take it any longer. On regular occasion, she was outcast by her own family, although only she was only blood related to her deceased Uncle Reed and partly to his children. Before he had passed, Jane’s uncle had made a promise with his wife that she would raise Jane as if she were one of her own children. But, as time went on the Reed family’s

treats Jane with no respect and as if she was not even there. Jane is

Revealing a true understanding of real human behavior, Charlotte Bronte creates Jane Eyre as the autobiographical heroine of this novel. She depicts the character of an orphan who is raised by her cruel, wealthy aunt Mrs. Reed, accompanied by her three nasty children. The only person with a wet heart at her place was Bessie, the servant who provides Jane with some kindness. Jane was punished very often, being accused for being rude to her cousins. A night spent in the Red Room, in which Mr. Reed had died, is explained as the most horrifying punishment Jane had to face at Gateshead Hall, which causes Jane to fall ill, where Mr. Lloyd, the doctor treats and hears the heart-breaking story of Jane. According to his suggestion, Jane is sent away

At first, she appears unruly and undisciplined however she shows her versatility and soon adapts to the strict regime. For the first time, Jane meets a friend, Helen Burns. She is amazed at Helen's restraint and acceptance of unjust punishment, "Burns made no answer: I wondered at her silence. " In these three, very similar occurrences in Jane's early years, we can establish through passionate outburst and a reluctance to be intimidated that Jane was most definitely a strong, female, central character. "You are too compulsive; too vehement!"

Charlotte Brontë, who wrote Jane Eyre published in 1847 with assumed Currel Bell. The novel is an autobiography story about the secret love with a Belgian professor. It is considered a romantic and feminist novel. Jane Eyre was a young orphan raised by her cruel and wealthy aunt who had a difficult time and took a job as a governess in Thornfield where she married her husband. The novel emphasis on the Victorian realism on the domestic concern of marriage and family and the reconciliation of feeling and realization. The author achieved public and critical praised during her lifetime she was introduced to London society and inner circle of literature celebrities by publisher, George Smith. Charlotte was the first novelist to portray psychological and social reality of woman at power. She wrote about emotional repression and strong female role. She paved the way for other writers. She remained as one of the most widely read novelist in the English